Guild Wars 2

For those who don’t know about this WXP ability, it requires 115 points in the Defense Against Guards line.

“Gain 1 stack of Applied Fortitude when killing a guard, lord or supervisor.

Applied Fortitude: Each stacks grants 50 Vitality (max of 5 stacks; stacks are lost on death)"

The question here is whether this ability is too strong? 2500 extra health is a huge survivability buff to the player, and until this was added, most of the buffs were to a player’s effectiveness vs NPCs, or a player’s effectiveness when using specific siege weapons.

Applied Fortitude, however, buffs the player in practically all combat situations; you’re stronger in any size of player combat, and you’ll last longer when manning siege under enemy fire.

Is this a direction we want to take WXP traits in? Where once you’ve played enough WvW, you have a serious 1v1 advantage against another player who has played less?

I wouldn’t mind it so much except now with the random match ups you have the potential to fight much higher tiered servers where everyone seems to be rank 100+. With the WXP abilities having been reset it seems a lot of people are putting points into this line too, which imbalances these match ups even further.

Moreover I don’t think any change is coming because they would probably feel obliged to reset WvW abilities again much like what they did when the AC trait line was nerfed, and due to how reluctant they seemed about that, and because they were so clear about it being a one time thing, I don’t have any high hopes of seeing this changed.

Or you could say, why don’t the other guard trait lines give a bonus that is just as nice. Instead of thinking a nerf is in order, how about a buff for something else?

Yes its a huge difference, but its an investment of over 100 levels of WvW experience… Since I am level 40, and it will be months before I get anywhere close to that, I am fine knowing a huge buff waits at the end of that path. It beats the heck out of knowing some useless, and uninteresting buff is on the way.

IMO. a nerf ought to be inevitable. (Probably just when I finally get the 115 points needed.)
It’s outrageously OP. Especially when you compare it with the general uselessness of all the other offerings (AC buffs excepted)

OTOH – it never ceases to amaze. Despite the OP nature of ACs, Anet are sticking to those changes like glue. Apparently, that’s how they see the game being played. Maybe that includes not being able to kill anyone whose been playing longer than you.

Sadface. I will have the points to finish upgrading guard killer tomorrow only to find out I should have gone defence against guards!

250 is more than double the stat gain of a full ascended over exotic trinket set. As this becomes more common you’ll see a real combat disadvantage for those who don’t care to grind out WXP with the zerg.

I was only fine with the whole implementation of WXP when the bonuses weren’t all that essential, but now it seems they’re intent on creating must have skills.

It amazed me they secretly buffed it from 20 to 50 vitality per stack. Certainly a strong buff now, but indeed, other ranks should give things as useful imo.

The Guard Killer max-level trait should be just as good, honestly. It should add 50 Power for each stack to a maximum of 5 stacks, analogous to the Guard Defense line with Vitality.

Rising Dusk.2408:

The Guard Killer max-level trait should be just as good, honestly. It should add 50 Power for each stack to a maximum of 5 stacks, analogous to the Guard Defense line with Vitality.

This is exactly the type of thinking that could destroy WvW. Pretty soon we’ll have rank 1000 players running around with +250 to all stats. Guard killer not the problem here, applied fortitude needs to be changed so it does something else other than giving lasting stats, such as temporary regen or protection when fighting guards.

You’re being a bit melodramatic by saying that it will ‘destroy WvW’. These bonuses really only help in open-field and in roaming (which is presumably why one traits so heavily into these lines in the first place). If you trait into AC’s, you do more damage to enemies, and that damage is far more significant than the gain you obtain from the guard defense passive. The same is true with the other masteries. I don’t see it as destroying WvW, rather it just helps players who do the things that get you these stacks in the first place (solo flip camps, deal with invaders trying to stop you, and so on). WvW isn’t balanced around the duel, and it was never intended to be.

2500 health is not that much… This is not the huge deal you’re making it out to be. It’s not like a player’s heal compensates for the extra.

Hickeroar.9734:

2500 health is not that much… This is not the huge deal you’re making it out to be. It’s not like a player’s heal compensates for the extra.

I run around on my thief with 10,000 health. Adding an extra 2500 health (25%) will make me near unkillable. Sure, it won’t matter a lot to my Hammer Warrior who gets around with 34k health or my necro that gets around with 25k health, but its looking great for my thief.

sostronk.8167:

Hickeroar.9734:

2500 health is not that much… This is not the huge deal you’re making it out to be. It’s not like a player’s heal compensates for the extra.

I run around on my thief with 10,000 health. Adding an extra 2500 health (25%) will make me near unkillable. Sure, it won’t matter a lot to my Hammer Warrior who gets around with 34k health or my necro that gets around with 25k health, but its looking great for my thief.

The thief base health is 10,805 (BEFORE the WvW weekly bonuses), not 10k.

Also, if you are running glass, an extra 2k health isn’t going to mean much. I can spike a glass character for half their health on my tank guardian. Having to hit you three times is an insignificant difference to me.

Why in the world would they make a buff related to fighting NPCs apply to ALL fighting instead?

Since I have 4 of 5 in AC mastery, do I have improved range, radius and conditions on my bows?

Abilities related to guards should apply to damage given/received to/from guards, only.

Ive never been a fan of having pre requisite buys before you gain something, it was bad in DAoC and i dont understand the reasoning. DAoC eventually came to their senses and just put everything out there as a straight purchase, not you need x level in this ability before you can then buy this other ability.

The WvW abilities are really underwhelming tbh, i was hoping for cool skills, realm abilities to purchase to break up the monotony of the combat rotation cycle that were hopefully available to everyone, not only those who have reached rank 115 or w/e.

Should be an ability you can just purchase outright, buy lvl 1 it gives you 20 vit, lvl 2 50, lvl 3 100 etc etc all the way up to 2500. Buff triggers as soon as you enter WvW and drops when you leave. WvW really needs some kind of char progression that allows people to see their char growing.

Hickeroar.9734:

sostronk.8167:

Hickeroar.9734:

2500 health is not that much… This is not the huge deal you’re making it out to be. It’s not like a player’s heal compensates for the extra.

I run around on my thief with 10,000 health. Adding an extra 2500 health (25%) will make me near unkillable. Sure, it won’t matter a lot to my Hammer Warrior who gets around with 34k health or my necro that gets around with 25k health, but its looking great for my thief.

The thief base health is 10,805 (BEFORE the WvW weekly bonuses), not 10k.

Also, if you are running glass, an extra 2k health isn’t going to mean much. I can spike a glass character for half their health on my tank guardian. Having to hit you three times is an insignificant difference to me.

Yes, 2.5k health will make a huge difference and Ill be going for this shortly. My fights are either a quick kill or close. Add 2.5k to that and I cannot think of a fight I would have lost in the last 3 months.

^^
This dude knows what he’s talking about. Add 2.5k hp to glass cannon thief and they can get their bursts off much more safely. One of the main drawbacks of going glass is having dangerously low hp; 2.5k hp is a huge boost for those types of chars and still a sizable boost for any build.

The other issue is that the ability sets a dangerous precedent. Remember fighting people with +15% hp and +150 to all stats? Try +15% hp and +250 to all stats. Its just not good for a PvP system to give certain players a huge advantage over others just because they’ve played longer. Ascended gear is bad enough, but at least the stats aren’t that much better then easily obtainable exotics.

I’m a little bit curious as to what kind of health pool an up-level would have with +250 to vitality.

Buddy.7563:

I’m a little bit curious as to what kind of health pool an up-level would have with +250 to vitality.

I think you’ll be hard pressed to have a char that is still below lvl 80 by the time they achieve rank 116.